


Lost and Found

by a_salty_alto



Series: MCU Bingo [1]
Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Battleworld, Inspired by a Trailer, M/M, Multiverse, Post Infinity War, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 01:10:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_salty_alto/pseuds/a_salty_alto
Summary: Steve and the Avengers are forgetting something, but they don't realize it unril they run into a familiar stranger on a strange world.





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fill for my MCU bingo card, for the center free space.  
> This fic is inspired by Thanos's "I hope they remember you" line in one of the Infinity War trailers.   
> Thanks to Doph for coming up with the title.

His head hurt as Steve woke up inside the Avengers Compound. He looked around and saw the other Avengers were in similar states- passed out on the floor.

Steve took a quick headcount and saw that everyone who had been in the Compound before was there: himself, Natasha, Thor, Sam, Bucky, Rhodes, and Spider-man.

Steve tried to shake the grogginess from his mind and remember what had happened. They had gotten a warning from FRIDAY about an unknown energy signature, and then a blinding flash of light, and Steve found himself here.

Getting up off the floor, Steve roused the others.

“Um, guys,” Spider-man called, pointing  out the window. “I know that upstate isn’t exactly freezing in March, but I don’t think it’s usually this sunny. Or neon.” 

“Neon” was an understatement. The blue of the sky was retina-searing. The landscape around the Compound looked completely different too,

“So, we’ve been transported to somewhere else.” Rhodes surmised. “Are we even on Earth?” 

“Let’s split up and take stock.” Steve ordered. “We’ll meet back up in 30 minutes with our findings.” 

Steve’s search brought him down to the basement. He stumbled across a door that looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember where it lead. He tried to open it, but the door was locked.

“FRIDAY, how do I get in here?”

“You must use your pass code.” the AI replied curtly. Steve always got the sense she didn’t like him, though he wasn’t sure why. 

“I don’t know my pass code. I don’t suppose you could give me a hint?” Steve asked the ceiling. The lack of reply was not unexpected, if disappointing. 

Ok, it was Steve’s passcode, so he could just try things he’d normally use for passcodes.

“Peggy,” he tried. A red “ACCESS DENIED” flashed across the door. 

“Peggy Carter.”

Sarah

Sarah Rogers 

Howling Commandos

Erskine

Project Rebirth.

None of them worked.

_ “Password”  _ Steve practically growled. He was so close to just trying to beat the door down. This was ridiculous. This was the Avengers Compound, and Steve was the leader of the Avengers. There was no reason for there to be a door he couldn’t access. Another list of failed passcodes later, Steve was going to either admit defeat or bash his head into the wall, when a thought randomly formed in his head.

“Captain Handsome?” Steve asked cautiously. The door turned green and let him in.

“Why the hell did I set  _ that _ as my passcode?” Steve wondered aloud as he entered. The room was a lab or an office of some sort. His old shield was sitting on the desk. Steve felt a pang of sadness at seeing it, but couldn’t exactly place it. 

“I’ve found something.” Natasha’s voice rang out over the comms.

Steve took the shield and left the lab without a second thought.

-

When Steve arrived, the rest of the Avengers were gathered around a new person, with Bucky pointing a gun at him. The guy was scruffy, with the beginnings of a full beard coming in and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a few days. Steve’s eyes wandered to the glowing piece in the man’s chest. 

It was... familiar. 

But also wrong. 

Steve knew what it was, and that _ it shouldn’t be there,  _ but Steve had no idea why _.  _ That was how Steve felt in general looking at this guy. Like he was looking at the same thing drawn by two different people. They were both very clearly the same thing, but they had subtle little differences.

Except Steve didn’t remember ever seeing the other picture.

“Hey! My eyes are up here.” The guy said,  trying to sound annoyed, but the way he tapped his hands at the side of his legs betrayed his nervousness.

Wait, what was Steve talking about? He  _ didn’t know him _ so how could Steve know anything about his mannerisms. He wasn’t Natasha.

“Who are you? And what are you doing?” said super spy asked, jolting Steve out of his thoughts.

“Tony Stark. Though not yours. Battleworld is made up of all sorts of different pieces of different planets, and dimensions. I’m from one of the other ones. I was just stopping in to see if anyone was home. I wasn’t going to do anything, and I  _ really  _ can’t stay” The man explained.  

Tony Stark.

Steve rolled the name around on his mind. Was he related to Howard? Maybe that was where the sense of familiarity was from? 

Even as he thought it, though, Steve knew that wasn’t the case. 

Because as the man had said his name, the thing that stirred something deep in Steve wasn’t the “Stark,” it was “Tony.”

_ TonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTonyTony _

“We don’t have a Tony Stark.” Natasha said, but she sounded off. Like she wasn’t entirely sure that was the case. The man’s eyes widened in surprise, then he simply shrugged.

“Your loss, I guess. If you really want context, in my universe, I’m the son of Howard Stark and Maria Carbonell. I fly around in a metal suit of armor and I go by Iron Man. I’m an Avenger.” 

_ 'I already know this' _ , Steve realized with a start. But that didn’t make any sense. There wasn’t a Tony Stark in their universe. He looked around at the other Avengers, but they seemed just as confused  as him, Rhodes especially.

“So you’re like War Machine?” Spider-man asked.

“Yeah. Though in my universe, War Machine is like me, since I became Iron Man first. In fact, I made Rhodey’s armor.” 

Steve processed this information. It felt right, but Steve knew logically it was wrong. If Steve had known Tony, in their dimension, and he was  an Avenger, Steve would remember him, wouldn’t he? They would have had to have fought side by side at some point.

Steve pulled up a mental image of an armor flying through the sky and battling the Chitauri. ‘It would be red and gold, gaudy and flashy and impossible to miss. Steve saw a flash of it flying a nuke through a wormhole.

That hadn’t happened though. They’d gotten rid of the nuke by-

By-

“Rhodes,” Steve whispered, his voice trembling, “where did you get your armor?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.” The other man said. He looked shaken. The other Avengers did too.

“Is something wrong?” Tony asked. All irritation in his voice was gone, replaced with clear concern.

“Nothing,” Steve said, “it’s just-”

“You’ve got an itch you can’t scratch?” Tony supplied, looking like an idea had just dawned on him.

“Yes! Exactly.” 

Tony hummed softly, and took a look around the compound.

“Do you guys know anything about the Reality Stone?” he asked.

“Yes,” Thor nodded. “It was one of the Infinity Stones Thanos managed to seize before we forced him to retreat.” 

“Our Avengers tangled with our own Reality Stone. A group of supervillains used it to flip reality around and make it so the Avengers were actually a group of criminals who couldn’t stand each other.” Tony said. “The others and I, we were pretty convinced we were supervillains, top of the most wanted list in fact, and that we liked it. At least until I got a lucky shot at the Reality Stone and saw myself and the others fighting together. Then, with some help from Steve, we all started asking ourselves basic questions and realized not everything added up.” 

Basic questions. Like where Rhodes got his armor, or how they met Spider-man, or who made FRIDAY, or who Steve fought in Siberia.

“Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m projecting.” Tony shrugged. “Either way you wouldn’t be able to fix anything while you’re on Battleworld. You’d need to find your Thanos and be in your own dimension to fix it.” 

He tilted his head in silent question. Steve suddenly realized Bucky did still have a gun to Tony’s face.

Steve turned to give Bucky a signal and the other man stood down. Tony smiled at Steve greatful and began to pack up his stuff.  All ready to go, Tony pondered something for a bit.

“Look,” Tony said, “this guy, I’m calling him Suspenders, is going to show up and soon. He put this place together by stealing pieces of other worlds.  He uses a lot of tech to to monitor everyone on Battleworld. The only reason I can avoid his sensors is because he hadn’t meant to bring me here, so he didn’t have eyes on me in the first place.” He pointed a finger at Steve. “I know this is going to be hard for you, Cap, but. Do. Not. Fight him. At least not outright. He’s crazy powerful and Battleworld is his.  _ And _ he’ll see you coming from a mile away. I’m looking for a way to throw off his sensors completely, but until then do me a favor and hang tight, will ya?” 

Steve stared at Tony, caught off-guard by the stern command. He took a moment before nodding.

Tension visibly seeped out of Tony’s shoulders.

“Good. I’ll get in touch when I have something, okay?” Tony started to leave, but Steve grabbed his arm.

“Wait. Before you go.” Steve stammered. “I just- Thank you, Tony.” 

_ ‘I  _ will _ miss you Tony’ _

The memory hit him and Steve nearly took a step back. He couldn’t fill in the figure that was supposed to be there, but someone _was_ supposed to be there. Their Tony. _Steve’s_  Tony. That settled it.

After the Avengers watched Tony leave, the others turned to Steve.

“So, what do you want to do, Cap?” Rhodes asked.

“First, we have to get off of Battleworld. Then we figure out what's going on with  _ our _ Tony, and punch whoever’s behind that in the face.”

“I was expecting something more eloquent Cap.” Sam drawled. 

Steve rolled his eyes, but could see the others were in agreement.

Someone, Thanos most likely if what the other Tony had  said was true, had tried to make them forget their Tony. Steve couldn’t let them get away with that. He wouldn’t.

_ I promise, Tony. _

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Come check out my Tumblr!](a-salty-alto.tumblr.com)


End file.
